Silver Birch Designs: Adventures with Shakespeare: King Lear

In the spring of 2010, Shakespeare Players performed King Lear, and I was recruited as costumes mistress. This involved working closely with the directors to develop a costuming strategy: style, colors for different noble houses in the play, how to highlight characters' personalities in the costume choices. We constructed a higher number of costumes for this production than usual, simply because we were working with a time period unusual for Shakespeare Players: ancient Britain. I dealt with measurements, developed the patterns, and then readjusted them when I realized that I had underestimated the amount of ease required in a tunic. I worked with the seamstresses to coordinate sewing of garments, sewed several myself, organized the costuming area backstage, and laundered costumes between performances. In short, it was a taxing job, but rewarding in the end. Although I couldn't make everything authentic and some costumes were pulled from other (later) time periods I was still pleased with the overall look of the costumes and how they contributed to the feel of the play.